


Word of the day: Professionalism

by PastelWitchStoryTime



Series: Chlodine Week 2019 [2]
Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Charlie Cutter - Freeform, Chlodine - Freeform, Chlodine Week, Chloe Frazer/Nadine Ross - Freeform, Elena Drake - Freeform, Elena Fisher - Freeform, F/F, Knot, Normal life kinda??, Orca - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 17:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20312962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelWitchStoryTime/pseuds/PastelWitchStoryTime
Summary: Nadine Ross enjoys her job. She's an animal conservationist. Her weekly routine consists of petting monkeys, driving around the reserve, cleaning animal poop and research on weekdays and working out and relaxing on weekends. She was used to it. When a small group of journalists decide they want to do an article on her organisation's work, she doesn't see it as much of an inconvenience when she's asked to show them around. She was wrong. The situation escalates further than she thought it would and  she's in over her head.BTW Is it hot in here or is it just that photographer??





	Word of the day: Professionalism

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my second work on AO3 ever, my second Chlodine fic and my second entry for Chlodine Week. Day 2 AU/Crosover, I picked AU. I was gonna do art for this, and I jut feltartblocked by everything?? I even tried doing it traditionally instead but ugh. If I have time, I'll finish it and edit the work adding a link to my instagram. Or you could just go there now and follow or see if I post it eventually.  
https://www.instagram.com/pastel_witch_art/
> 
> Sorry for the long note, let's get on with the show.

She pulled her wild burnt umber curls into a pony tail holder and sat on the edge of her bed to slip on her nearly new brown combat boots. After this process she pulled on her tan button up shirt, displaying the logo of the organisation she was associated with on her right sleeve. She then grabbed her faux leather wallet, keys and was out the door. She walked with purpose, shoulders straight and shin held high, demanding authority wherever she strode. The elevator took her down to resident parking and without missing a beat got to her car, always in her usual parking spot, climbing in and setting off. When she arrived at her destination, she pulled into her reserved parking area and headed to her office to grab her portable radio, strapping it to her waist, and cap before doing precisely what she was told. Her employer had requested she make an appearance at the cafeteria area to begin a tour of the property for ‘special guests’. She had not the slightest idea who that could be but she dare not question direct orders.

The hut that served snacks and drinks came into view and she saw Mr. Meyer, her boss accompanied by two young women and another man. As she neared she could make out that one of the young women was about her height, her blonde hair in an up-do, held by a claw clip, with two pens sticking out of it. She wore a blue button down, that had a further two pens sticking out of the left breast pocket, tucked into her deep blue jeans , a journalist badge clipped onto one of the belt loops and black, grey and blue sneakers. Her brown eyes were bright, she carried a notebook and she seemed to have RHF: Resting Happy Face, a rarity. Her male colleague was an older, muscular man. His hair was cut low but his receding hairline was still easy to see. It was also clear any hair he would have had would be salt and pepper. His chosen attire was a green t shirt, tan timberlands and thick denim trousers. He had his own stationary with him but his badge was on a lanyard around his neck. They were both stood chatting with Mr. Meyer, seeming to be enthusiastically hurling a flurry of inquires his way. The second woman, seemed less interested.

She sat on a bench, her dark grey suade ankle boots kicked up on a table meant for dinning, triggering an eye roll from Nadine. Unlike her associates, who dawned themselves in heavy duty pants, she worse skinny jeans and red tee shirt, that was currently ridding up revealing olive skin and a sliver of her toned midriff. At least she had assumed she was associated with the others, she didn’t have a badge like them, not a visible one that is. Her grey eyes, framed by thick long lashes and equally as thick furrowed eyebrows, were fixed on the rather expensive looking digital camera she was fiddling with in her slender and slightly calloused fingers. The patterns of these bruises reminded her of the ones she’d get after weight training which made sense. The woman in front of her clearly exercised at least regularly. Her cheeks were dotted with sparse freckles and multiple necklaces could be seen around her neck, two rows of red beads and one plain black cord with a white rectangular piece in the middle, flanked by two jade beads. Tufts of charcoal hair came loose from her low ponytail, left sitting on her shoulder, stuck to her neck from the heat and hanging in front of her face. She must have been staring, and the woman must of felt it, because suddenly ash orbs shot up and met her own. The woman didn’t seem offended though, but rather flattered instead; she batted her eyelashes before flashing her a debonair smirk. She scoffed and turned away, making the woman’s grin widen.

“You wanted to see me, sir.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the bulky man greeted her, “Meet Mrs. Drake, Mr. Cutter and Ms. Frazer,” he gestured to the blonde, the man, and the dark haired woman, “Journalists.”

“I see that…”

“They wish to do an article on the conservation work we do here. I already instructed on you on what is to be done generally, you and your team show these lovely people around and answer any questions they may have. We’ve offered them the opportunity to be here all throughout this week and a little into the following or until they gather all the information they need, whichever comes first.”

“Copy that.”

He turned to the pressman and women, “This is Nadine Ross, my area supervisor and right hand woman, anything you’re not sure about, any concerns, she’s your gal.” He clasped his hand on Nadine’s shoulder in support before leaving.

“Miss Ross, right?” the blonde held out her hand, “It’s a pleasure.”

“Thank you for your interest in what we do, Mrs. Drake,” she shook the woman’s hand.

“Please, Elena’s fine.”

Nadine blinked at her. “I’m sure it is, but I think I’d much prefer Mrs. Drake.”

“Sure…” Elena muttered dejectedly.

“I’ll be showing you around the enclosures first, then to the clinics, if that’s alright, of course.”

“Sounds great,” the woman grabbed Cutter’s hand and began to led down the track.

The third member of the party had risen and stood next to her after picking up a large black satchel. Now that they were side by side she could see that Ms. Frazer was indeed taller than her by a few inches, but she slouched something absolutely atrocious.

“How long is this going to take?”

“Aren’t you the one who wants an article?”

“Not me, I’m a free lance photographer, I was just asked to join this crusade or whatever.”

Nadine raised an eyebrow. “Clearly.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You do seem to emit, business casual rather than business professional energy.”

The woman chuckled, aggrieved, “I’m plenty professional.”

“Sure… Where even is your identification?”

Smokey eyes narrowed. She conjured up her press pass and badge from her back pocket, both chained to a yellow patterned lanyard. Shoving it back into its place of origin she trailed off behind the others. Nadine had eventually passed her, leading the group like what was appropriate. Ross had taken them to the interior parking area that housed the company’s four wheel drives, trekking over gravel walk ways through light foliage. The area was rectangular patch of asphalt, about twenty five by fifty metres if one was to guess. It was lined on all sides by fences that consisted of posts and four logs nailed and tied between them horizontally, adding to a rustic atmosphere. The only opening in the fences were on the north and east sides, the former being just large enough to be a pedestrian entrance and the latter wide enough to drive out of onto dirt road that lead off into the reserve. There were seven trucks parked in the lot at the time, leaving three clearly empty spots.

“So, Nadine, will you protect me from the lions and tigers and bears?” Frazer joked as she they entered the lot.

“Hate to disappoint you but we only house primates.”

“Oh? Then who’s that little guy?”

She pointed to a small bird sitting on a post near one of the cars. It was about the size of a finch, had a chestnut coloured body with a orange-pink beak and thick almost obnoxiously bright purple band around it’s eyes and the back of its head. The bird had a long black tail with dark blue at it’s base and skipped around in dart like movements. Their guide approached the small animal that turned to her, looked expectant.

“This little guy is Nico,” she had said, digging in one of her pockets and pulling out a tiny zip-locked bag, “One day he just stole my granola so I started packing some just for him.”

She opened it and held it in her palm, between her thumb and forefinger. ‘Nico’ without hesitation, perched on her hand and dug in, occasionally stopping and looking at the woman feeding him.

“He’s beautiful…” Elena breathed in awe and Frazer took this as a trigger to snap a picture.

“He’s a Violet Eared Waxbill, who should really stop depending on me for a snack so much.”

The little bird, seeming to understand her, stopped and stared at her, as if saying ‘So what?’

“You need a lot of protein in you diet, not just my food.”

Red eyes stared back at her for a moment, almost insulted, then continued to chow down.

“I guess it is my own fault, I encourage you…”

Nadine shifted causing him to flap back onto the fence. She poured the rest of contents of the bag onto a post and took her keys from a different pocket. She quite literally climbed into one of the vehicles and motioned for the others to join. Chloe had gotten in the front and Elena rationalized that she may get better pictures if she was granted the quicker reaction time that being next to the person pointing out the sights would. After Drake and Cutter sat comfortably she reversed out of the spot and took to the path.

They drove through two kilometres of grassland speckled with small forests spotting and snapping pictures of many members of the ecosystem while Cutter and Drake asked her questions. Nadine had explained that they had enclosures near a clinic for primates that needed extra care and open area for those who were on their way to being released. They had a total of one hundred and seven animals, ranging in vervets, apes and baboons. Ms. Ross was in charge of a sector that worked closely in animals’ security, maintaining the enclosures of some of the new monkeys and/or special needs monkeys that could not be released into the wild. She had been in her position for five years. She graduated university with a bachelor’s in zoology solely based on her interest in animals but then decided to pursue conservation work later on. During their drive Frazer hadn’t asked much for questions related to the article, but more so out of curiosity or trying to make friendly conversation with their driver who appeared all business.

The sun beat down on them as they pulled into another area, fenced off this time. Tall eight metre wide cages containing ropes, platforms, water bowls, food dishes and, most importantly, monkeys, greeted them. The bars were varying shades of black and dark greens and they were all in these open plan cabanas that overhung, leaving a shaded walkway in front of all the cages. Inside the compounds there were mostly different variants of vervet monkeys, usually alone in their paddock, some sleeping, some playing, some eating and some chirping excitedly. A number of them, upon seeing one of their care givers ran to be as close to her as they could, squealing and reaching their hands through the wiring to touch her. Nadine smiled warmly at all of them and petted a few before stalking to a small building at the end of the line of folds with a smooth white trimmed warm grey paint job. She opened the cream coloured door and asked the others to wait outside before sternly demanding the touch nothing. The door closed behind her and walked into the room. A stout man with a mullet and similar uniform to her own stood in submissive greeting eventually shadowed by a taller blonde man.

“Orca. Knot. We have visitors,” she folded her arms neatly behind her back, “Journalists writing about the work we do here, they’re our responsibility for the next week and a half.”

“Yes, ma’am,’ they chanted in unison.

“Now, look alive gentlemen.”

They went outside leaving her alone. The room was square, a desk, chair and filing cabinet at each corner below long narrow windows, a desktop computer on two parallel to each other. In the centre of the far wall was a steel door leading to a kitchen area. Although employees technically could prepare their meals there it was generally for the monkeys. This in mind, she went in and picked up a large Tupperware container full of shelled green peas and headed out. Upon exiting she found Elena who was jubilant to interrogate Knot and Orca, Cutter who had been cooing over Kita, one of the youngest of their new monkeys and Frazer had been off on her own talking on the phone rather animatedly, but the conversation still looked private. When she was in eye-shot, or more of nose-shot, of the primates, even more antsy than before, they came running. She opened a divider between two cages that allowed two larger monkeys to scamper through, into the neighbouring cage then stooped with the open bowl held against the bars. The little creatures stuck their hands through and sifted through the green orbs, picking exactly which pea they wanted to eat. When she had hung up, Frazer took the opportunity to come over capture a few photos of this and Cutter joined as well, notebook and pen out.

“So, Ms. Ross,” Nadine hadn’t noticed till now but he had an English accent, “who are these lovely… uh…”

“Guys and girl?” she rose and eyebrow.

“Right, guys and girl.”

“This is Issa, Jayvyn and Adowa.”

“How did you end up with these three?”

“Well the boys are older monkeys that were scooped up from a forest fire, some scarring is still visible but they’re healed for the most part and should be allowed into the open areas of the reserve soon enough, even though I think Issa would miss Adowa a lot. They’d gotten pretty close, unusual for a male and female of their age who hadn’t been exposed to each other before, while Addie was rescued from an illegal purchase. They hurt her pretty badly and she sustained some permanent brain damage. See how her head always leans to the left and she’s never straight? Always craned to one side.”

“Poor things…”

Frazer lowered her camera as if she was about to speak but shook it off and returned her attention to the spot behind the lens. Cutter had been writing the things Nadine has said down and without looking at her again continued to ask more questions.

“So what do you have to say about the claims that this organisation might be in cahoots with poachers?”

Nadine almost dropped the bowl.

“Ms. Ross?”

“I say,” she stood abruptly, “that’s absolute rubbish. Where would such an idea even come from?”

“Looking at the evidence,” Cutter looked down at her, “no disrespect intended man, but quite a few of your primates have vanished and gone unaccounted for? Yes?”

Her eyes narrowed, “If you’re trying to accuse me of anything,” she glanced at his badge and flicked it, “Charlie, I’ll have you know that no one, not a soul on this team is more worried about those lost little guys than I am. If you wish to conduct a genuine interview, be my guest but if you think for even a moment that I’m going to let you just waltz around here, around my monkeys, pointing fingers and tossing blame you’re in for a pretty rude awakening. Want to see what we do here? Fine, I take no issue. Want accuse my crew, these good people who spend almost every waking moment of their day on these animals, of such an atrocity: get out.”

She was incensed. Her scowl was sickening and could scare the red off a mandrill's arse. She turned on her heels and stalked over to another compound, the monkeys inside were sitting on a platform together and had climbed over to the bars, chirping as she held the bowl up for them. They repeated the action as the previous set of simians who were still squat down taking glances at their food before gently putting it in their mouth and chewing. The woman in red allowed her camera to hang around her neck and ended up wandering to their guide’s side. She leaned against the bars and studied her. In the seconds since the encounter, she didn’t seem angry anymore, but the emotion her rage was only present to mask sat on full display now. She was hurt.

“Sorry about him…”

Her eyes flickered to meet hers, only for a second.

“He can be a little oblivious… I’m sure he didn’t really mean anything.”

“Whatever, Frazer.”

“Chloe…”

She actually looked at her this time.

“It’s Chloe…”

Nadine didn’t say anything. She just faced the creatures in front of her again and stuck her hand through the bars and scratched the smaller primate on top of her head.

“You really love these little guys don’t you.”

“Of course I do…”

“Listen, honey, I-Oi!”

Chloe was cut off by her own exclamation. She shrieked in reaction to the tugging sensation she felt on her scalp. She tried her best not to panic and judging by the fact that Nadine looked at her in alarm but quickly burst out laughing suggested that she had nothing to worry about. The larger of the monkeys had taken it upon himself to start grooming her. He pulled on her ear, poking and prodding behind it. When he was satisfied he continued to make small parts in her hair, dragging his fingers on the surface of her cranium in search of anything worth removing or eating. Nadine’s hysteria had subsided right when Chloe herself had actually begun to laugh. Who knew having a monkey check for lice and dandruff tickled so much.

“There aren’t any bugs crawling around in there, right Chloe?” Cutter asked her grinning.

“I can assure you I washed my hair this morning.”

“Well that certainly was a waste wasn’t it,” Ross folded her arms smiling at the woman.

Frazer was still giggling and Nadine wished she could get a photo for their article but Chloe’s camera was out of reach being strapped around her neck and her head in the grasp of a mischievous monkey.

“Well,” she sighed, “ means he likes you. Or he at least wants to get to know you. Grooming is important in bonding for primates.”

“Huh. Looks like I found me a brother.”

“You’re practically twins anyway,” Charlie called over his shoulder after deciding to join Elena.

“Oh choke on a gorilla cock will you.”

“Ew…” Nadine screwed up her face in feigned disgust. Then, “You have naturally black hair, right?”

“Yes? Are you trying to say I have greys?”

“No just making sure no black colouring will stain his hands,” she made a move to go to another cage.

“Wait, aren’t you going to help me?”

She had already been walking away, “Nope.”

“Hey, why not?”

“He won’t hurt you. He’ll let you go when he’s finished.”

“And how long will that take?”

She shot her a playful smile from over her shoulder, “Depends. How many ticks did you say you had again?”

* * *

They had spent the whole day looking at the smaller monkeys, interviewing staff and speaking to vets, the following day, bright and early, Nadine had taken them around a section off road to see some monkeys behaving like they would in the wild. She had decided now would be a good time to show them the baboons and apes. She showed them the enclosures which held their bonobos, not without Cutter getting splashed by an adolescent who was playing with another conservationist in a bath. Those paddocks had resembled the backyard of a grandma with a green thumb and too much time on her hands to Chloe. They had been much larger than the paddocks that housed the vervet monkeys. In addition, they had almost all been in groups, a different family in a different space. Nadine thought the fenced off areas for apes and the clinic to be a good place to take them. They arrived in a small forest of fruit trees creating thick foliage directly at the edge of the path. Yellow beams were cast on them as the sun shine barely made it through the cover of leaves and branches. There they met Knot and Orca with another woman. They were standing and talking in the middle of the dirt road, seemingly stressed, next to a pulled over company pick up truck, a large animal grate in the tray. The create would occasionally rattle and produce a cry. Nadine got out of their vehicle first and jogged to them, the others soon following behind her. The woman with them was lean in a way similar to Chloe but was slightly shorter. She wore the company logo as well, but on a dark green polo, with khaki shorts. With a sigh she had pulled some of her wild coils of her back into her bun that was miraculously still together by efforts of one surprisingly strong scrunchy.

“He was completely fine a moment ago,” she said, “I’ve no clue what’s wrong.”

“What’s going on here?” Nadine placed her hands on her hips.

“It’s Rashidi. I dunno what happened. He’s scheduled to be let out with the others today and the boys were about to help me release him when he just lost his marbles.”

Nadine looked pensive for a moment and the woman continued to explain that nothing unusual had happened on the trip to trigger such a reaction from him. She climbed onto the tray of the truck and over the crate to look into it. Rashidi, a twenty year old bonobo, was clutching the thin bars of the cage and smiling. Smiling, although an expression of joy in humans, in some ape and monkey species are a sign of distress, agitation or fear. He wasn’t pleased at all but didn’t screech at Nadine in particular. The woman handed her a kaffir plum and she slowly gave it to the simian who accepted it and cautiously ate, eyes darting around and grunting ever so often. She requested assistance and turned the crate around before lifting it by its handles and bringing it down from the truck. The in-no-way-small-dwarf chimp was breathing heavily in anticipation and after several minutes of cooing, calming strokes and more food he seemed to have relax. Chloe seized the moment and approached to get a picture, but Orca outstretched an arm and stopped her in her tracks. He turned to his superior for confirmation who requested she stayed at least thirty metres away, for obvious safety reasons. The woman, identified to be called Carol, lifted the cage and the chimp stepped out, one appendage at a time before properly exiting his means of transportation. All was placid his first few strides, Frazer snapping shots, and Rashidi began to survey the area. His eyes fell on the pair and everything stopped.

His hands raised and he sent them crashing onto the ground, hollering. On reflex Carol and Knot’s hands shot to their hip holsters holding their guns. He bared his teeth and stared at them, Orca’s face hardened and the colour ran from Chloe’s. Nadine slowly crept closer to the two, softly calling out to the ape. He seemed to hear her, even turning to her once, but tried to ignore her to the best of his ability. Rashidi false charged them, suddenly moving half a metre and stopping as quickly as he began moving, only to get a reaction. He did somewhat get one. Orca’s arm returned to its place guarding the photographer, he siphoned his own firearm and his eyes narrowed further. Weapons were drawn and the primate didn’t back down. He rushed them. On instinct alone Nadine dove for Chloe as Orca began to empty a clip of rubber bullets at the mammal’s arms and legs. Deciding that he’d rather not pursue this further Rashidi stopped, grunted, and fled into the reserve.

Chloe sighed beneath Ross’ strong arms, “You think he got mad 'cause I got his bad side?”

The woman hovering above her rolled her eyes but helped her to her feet regardless. Once she was standing, Nadine placed her hand on the small of her back and gave her a once over for bruises and cuts.

“Eish, are you alright?”

“Oh yeah, totally, man. Attacked by a wild monkey and tackled to the ground by a sexy body builder. I’ve had worse nights, believe me.”

She laughed, “I won’t ask.”

“Don’t,” she said so solemnly that she knew she was joking. Frazer wasn’t capable of such seriousness.

She chuckled again, “He’s a great ape, by the way.”

“What?”

“Monkeys and apes aren’t the same thing.”

Elena and Cutter checked on Chloe themselves while Nadine questioned her colleagues about what had just happened. No one had any idea of what hat peeved the simian off so badly. Orca had suggested it was Frazer’s camera but Carol refuted that with the simple logic that Rashidi had seen cameras before and wasn’t phased by them, plus Chloe had not been using flash and the primate had been acting up before she even got there, let alone in his field of vision. They pondered things further until Elena joined and claimed that they had too much excitement for one day and was going to call the work day over early, which they all understood. Chloe had then called that “last one to the car buys lunch” making the blonde bolt to their four by four. Nadine had continued to discuss the incident that took place with her crew, where Knot had brought up the fact that one of them would have to do the paperwork documenting it.

The blonde had plopped into the jeep next to Charlie who had been writing in his notebook, trying to recall the events in detail. Chloe had returned to her place in the passenger seat and was checking her camera to be absolutely certain it wasn’t damaged and dusting off any sand with a tool similar to a make up brush used for applying blush. Elena took her laptop out of its bag and began browsing her work in progress for the piece and some of the pictures that were transferred to her hard drive until their guide had rejoined them in the vehicle.

The drive back to the entrance of the compound went quick and was relatively void of conversation, the air filled with the rustling of leaves, rubber tires on gravel, the hum of an engine and chirps of birds and near by monkeys, the frequent holler of a larger ape. The early afternoon sun was unable to attack them hidden under the vegetation and greenery. They spotted a few baboons walking along the path who paid them no mind. The sights didn’t offer much different than their previous trip but Elena managed to spot her first secretary bird picking around for rodents or snakes. The four wheel drive pulled into the lot and everyone exited. Nadine had put her things in her office and rejoined the others to escort them out. Her hair was a mess and she was glazed with sweat but was somehow still radiant. At least to Chloe.

“Are you all coming?” she had thrown over her shoulder.

“Where?” the raven haired woman stopped looking at a poster on a lamppost.

“Lunch,” she started for the front gate.

Elena sighed, “You’re lucky I’m great…” she had said just above a whisper.

“Excuse me?”

The woman sighed again, slightly more exasperated than before. Then, rather loudly, she said, “C’mon, Charlie. Let’s go back to the hotel and work on the article some more. You guys go ahead.”

Cutter arched an eyebrow, “But… I’m hungry too-”

“Lets __go,__ Charlie. C’mon!” she had grabbed onto his arm and started pulling him before turning to Chloe again, “You’re welcome.”

It was now her turn to be confused.

“You seriously think I haven’t noticed you flirting?”

“I flirt with everyone.”

“Fair enough, but regardless, go have fun,” she winked at her and drug one pouting Charlie away.

The entire time Nadine had been waiting patiently with her arms folded, subtle curiosity on her face. Chloe smiled at her and she arched an eyebrow, earning her a chuckle. She made her way to her and filled her in. The shorter woman had just shrugged it off and led her to he vehicle. Frazer had been stunned to find that Nadine drove a BMW, recounting her comment on conservation work not paying well. During the lengthy drive she had come to learn that Nadine Ross was in fact an heiress of a company, but rejected her inheritance later on because it just wasn’t for her. It made sense, work with animals didn’t suit her, she suited it.

They drove through the lively post-rush-hour streets, which was mostly Chloe thanking the lord above for air conditioning, and got by with small talk. There were trees blooming red flowers, vendors on the roadside peddling fruit and vegetables, and hand-made trinkets. After what felt like half an hour, but could be quite a bit less, Nadine pulled into the parking lot of a small casual dining style restaurant that was based next to an outlet mall. There were giant palms around the drive ways, cream and ochre masonry, glass panel doors with black metal work, rustic honey tone round dining tables in a row outside, matching chairs with blue fabric on the back rests and wall mounted lights. Nadine got out first and made her way around to Chloe. The leaner woman must have been very focused on her gawking at the architecture because she jumped when had opened the door for her. They both chuckled at the reaction and the conservationist jokingly bowed, outstretching an arm. The photographer responded by gently placing a hand over her heart, batting her eyelashes at the woman before exiting the car.

Nadine had opened the door, holding it that way for her lunch date. Chloe smiled and laced her arm through hers before pulling her into the restaurant. After speaking to an uninterested hostess, they sat at a table for two near the window and a waiter came, left them with two menus and offered that they take all the time they needed before placing their orders. The setting was rather casual, and the establishment was rather dry; nothing but a few patrons on a day off, usually singles, one or two couples and a family: husband, wife and two toddlers, twins by the look of it. Nadine didn’t really need her menu since she usually ordered of one type of dish from here, seeing as she could easily cook the others at home, but couldn’t be bothered to prepare everything for her favourite item off their roster. After examining the room she looked to Chloe just in time to see grey eyes widened at the laminated cardstock, making her chuckle.

“And what would you recommend, China?” her husky voice floated over the list she had brought closer to her face to get a better look.

She smiled, “Depends on what you like…”

Chloe set the menu down, her gaze piercing, “I’m an Aussie, Love, I fell out of the womb eating Vegemite straight out the jar-”

Nadine scoffed with a genuine smile even if only slightly repulsed.

“I can handle anything you deem even slightly tasty.”

She tittered again, a little less restrained this time, “I bet… The bobotie is pretty good.”

“Bobotie it is, then.”

Nadine set both their menus aside, “So you’re Australian. Your accent makes sense now.”

“What about you? I don’t doubt your place of birth, but I’ve heard thicker accents in my time here.”

“I’ve travelled a bit… other dialects may have just… rubbed off on me, I guess.”

“I see. Ever been to England?”

“I have actually. How about you?”

“Quite a few times myself, yes… How about… the states?”

“Never.”

“Neither have I…”

“Do you want to? Got to America, I mean.”

She made a face, scrunching her nose and pursing her lips, “Sure. I mean why not. What about you? Where do you want to go?”

“Iceland… the land is unspoilt. Natural.”

“Figures. Makes sense though, it is beautiful there…”

“Ja… Plus I really want to see those Northern Lights.”

“Oh yeah, that’s totally on the bucket list too.”

Their waiter had returned and asked if they were ready to order, to which they confirmed. They spent to duration of their wait for food discussing themselves. Chloe was actually born in India, her father was a native archeologist and historian, her mother was an Australian flight attendant and she moved to the city her mum grew up in when she was eight. Nadine revealed that her father was a native to the country she was born in just like her, while her mother was also an alien, a doctor from Holland. Chloe was an only child while Nadine had two younger siblings. Nadine’s family was pretty loving and all together while after the death of her father, Chloe barely say her mum for one to two week long intervals every month or so. Chloe had been a theatre kid and her guardian never saw any of her performances, while Nadine’s family always cheered at her gymnastic tournaments in primary and secondary school. Nadine had mostly paid for university herself, Chloe had a degree in Foreign Language, off a scholarship that she had insisted was not necessarily because she was a good student but because she learned a lot from her mother and she was almost fluent in quite a handful of tongues at the time.

The sweet sounds of conversation and laughter was soon interrupted by the waiter returning with their meals though, bobotie, a biltong topped salad and an apple currant cider for Chloe, a salmon, tuna and crab sushi for Nadine, who stuck to water. She had insisted on waiting for Chloe to take her first bite and after coaxing the woman finally obliged. She stuck her fork into the thick layer of egg and beef, scooping it up and putting it in her mouth. She immediately melted. “What the hell? This is delicious…” she had said through mouth fulls. Nadine had only laughed and started to attack her own dish. They continued to get to know each other over their meals. This lead to Chloe jesting about loving a woman in uniform when Nadine shared that she was indeed in the military for two years, and her own father had been even longer, before he started selling weapons and making a name for himself as an entrepreneur. She had decided to roll her eyes at the comments and eye other diners after telling her to shut up, in hopes that the other woman wouldn’t notice the heat in her cheeks. She did.

“Awe…” Chloe cooed placing her elbows on the table and holding her glass just an inch from her own humoured pout, “Now you’re blushing.”

“I don’t blush, Frazer.”

“Oh but you get adorably flustered? And red in the face?”

Nadine turned to her and although her tone had been somewhat threatening she was genuinely beaming,, “Am I going to have to shut you up myself?”

“Maybe…” Chloe took a sip from her drink blinking with dark lashes in expectancy and feigned innocence at the other woman. “Got any ideas?”

She scoffed, “Bite me-”  
The raven haired filly set her glass down and folded her arms, leaning over the surface slightly, smirking, “You’d like that wouldn’t you…”

Nadine sat still, in awe of the tremendous size of this woman’s balls. She had no shame, certainly not enough to refrain from flirting with a woman she was working with and met that week so blatantly. How the hell did she walk around with those?

Nadine glanced down at the table, holding her eyes close for a second before looking back up at Chloe, mirroring her smile, “What on earth am I going to do with you?”

She leaned closer, “I can think of a few things…”

“Ja… I bet you could…

Her dark eyes couldn’t help but flicker down to the enticing display of olive skinned, lightly freckled cleavage in the neck of the woman’s yellow tank top, accentuated by her closeness and height of her shoulders. Once again, Chloe proved how observant she could be as her smirk spread a little closer to her ear. Nadine allowed herself to smile at this too when she noticed exactly how close their hands were. She could practically feel the warmth of the other woman’s fingers radiating onto her own. As much fun as she thought this was, she wasn’t one to exhibit affection in public unless it was some sort of hook up at a bar and Chloe was not a one off hook up at a bar. She was a young woman she had business with and had to continue to work with for the next week and although she may have had the gauchos to, but Nadine was far to awkward to look this temptress before her in the eyes, or to discuss professional matters, or anything quite frankly anything at all, knowing she had accepted such indiscipline and done dirty things to her. She had to be the bigger person.And she would be the bigger person. Regardless of how annoying the dull pain in her lower abdomen was, regardless of how excruciating it was to rip herself from her snare that was those gorgeous grey eyes. She had to. So she did.

She sighed and sat back in her chair, not realising she had begun to lean forward as well, and drew forth her wallet. Chloe’s position had stayed unchanged, aside for the dumbfounded expression plastered across her face. Nadine slapped a few bills onto the table, making sure to set the tip aside, and returned the notecase to her pocket.

“You don’t have to pay for everything, ya know…” Frazer had said, her eyes following the woman as she stood up.

“Yes I do. I lost, remember?”

Before Chloe could say anything further, Nadine held up a finger indicating for her to be silent. The still seated lady looked as though she was about to tell her how her mother made her when Nadine pulled out her phone, swiping on the screen and bringing it to her ear. She obediently stayed silent and watched the woman’s face fall.

* * *

Charlie had predicted that they wouldn’t be needing more time than what was offered to them to finish their article for their employers and we was right. The journalists’ press pass would remain valid until the end of that work day. By now Nadine hadn’t been completely drawn out of the irritable state that she had fallen into the previous week, but was definitely in a better place.

After getting of the phone at the restaurant she had gone rigid and said that she thought they both head home. If Chloe wasn’t already confused when Nadine had suddenly pulled away from her advances, boy oh boy was she bewildered then. She had been dropped off at her hotel and made it her and Elena’s room in deep thought. Only when she had already washed up for bed had a knock at the door brought any answers. It had been Charlie. He’d gotten a call from Carol who notified them that one of their bonobos, Zuberi, had vanished from his enclosure with his troop. The following day Elena has asked to see all the other apes who shared the enclosure with him. The security had been upped and the request was denied, but after some intense grilling from Chloe, they had been allowed to observe from just outside the restricted area, under supervision of course. Even with her limited experience in animal sciences even Chloe could see that the primate’s family seemed very stressed and on edge. She felt bad for them and thought it a shame they couldn’t speak so they couldn’t ask what had happened.

Chloe had also further cross-questioned Nadine, who was having none of it and snapped at her quite a few times. She had been emotionally still with her in later days, but barking orders at her underlings and glaring had become her new favourite hobby. Well, not new, but she seemed to practise it more often. She had the weekend off after the incident but had still shown up to the reserve in casual clothing on Saturday to check up on things. When she had returned the following say Carol had her practically escorted out. That evening Chloe had taken it upon herself to contact Mr. Meyer and inquire on Nadine’s address. A little manipulating, one Uber ride and some white lies to a neighbour later she was outside of the woman’s door. She answered on the second knock reluctantly let her in.

Her home was immaculate aside for some dirty mugs on her counter top and work clothes strewn over the couch, but Chloe guess that had been recent additions since Zuberi’s disappearance. Her apartment was decorated in contemporary styled furniture with mostly whites, creams and dark browns to blacks. After Chloe had finished being in awe of the place she turned to Nadine, silent behind her. The woman wore a vertically striped black and white halter top, artichoke shorts and she had a single white sock on. Her hair was undone and she looked as she had on two day old make up she hadn’t bothered to scrub off. She had been following her around the room, twisting her hands nervously, eyes unable to be fixed on one stop.

Wordlessly, Chloe had taken her hand and sat down with her on the bed, seeing as her cough had been conquered by laundry. She allowed her to speak. She talked about how much she loved him, how concerned she had been, how frightened his troop must have been, the deep remorse she had for them and the rage she had at herself for not being able to do something. “It happened on my watch” she had said before averting eye contact. Chloe had pulled her into her arms then and held her. She’d decided she would comfort her until asked to stop and she would be willing to hold her until Hell froze over if she never did.

They had stayed like that for quite some time, up till the moment Nadine started to pull away. She had thanked her and Chloe brushed it off as something she didn’t need to show her gratefulness for. And that’s when Nadine Ross had kissed her. She hadn’t gone all in at once, no, she had leaned in a tad, before stopping and blinking as though asking for permission. She didn’t seem to ask for just a kiss though, but for comfort. Chloe being there was a comfort, Chloe holding her was a comfort and this was even further solace. She had nodded, and the woman closed the gap between them. Nadine hadn’t been disciplined then. It was soft, tender and sweet. Their lips had worked together in tandem, neither fighting for control, just going with the natural flow of the kiss and where it took them. Nadine didn’t care that she’d allowed herself to be unscrupulous. When the kiss had deepened it didn’t feel forced for a second. Not when Chloe had caressed her hair, not when her tongue found into way to hers, not when they were gently removing each other’s clothes.

The following morning she had felt guilty. She woke up with a mass of brown curls on her shoulder, and a chocolate coloured hand resting on her chest, completely nude with the blankets at her and the other woman’s waists. She had lifted her hand carefully and let her dance partner’s head gently fall onto the pillow. Then she had sat on the edge of the bed, the exact spot where this whole thing began, and ran her fingers through her now undone hair with a sigh. In her thoughts she had noticed a pen and spiral bound notebook sitting on the night stand and decided to take advantage. Before getting fully clothed again and quietly letting herself out she wrote a note folded to stand in a tent facing the woman so that when she opened her eyes, the first thing she’d see was “Love,” in the photographer’s handwriting.

_ _Sorry about last night. You were grieving and it was wrong of me to _ _

_ _take advantage to get into your adorable pants. Y_ _ _ _ou’re absolutely bewitching _ _

_ _naked, _ _ _ _but that doesn’t make what I did okay. I really do hope you have a _ _

_ _great day, China Hope you forgive me._ _

_ _ps. You’re one heck of a dance partner. Never guessed you were a bottom,_ _

_ _even though it makes a whole lotta sense looking back. ;)_ _

_ _

When they saw each other again Nadine had assured her that she knew what she was doing when she had slept with her. She had tried to convince Chloe that she had not committed some horrible iniquity and that it was alright, but every time she would give her a sad smile and drop a very unconvincing “Sure thing, China,” and continue to act as though nothing happened. Chloe had been a distraction, a wonderful, welcomed one at that, but a distraction nonetheless; a distraction from the anxiousness she felt about her primates and she found herself focusing on her primates’ security as a distraction from Chloe. She wouldn’t have to worry about it much longer though, Frazer and her team would be leaving that afternoon. So why did that thought make her ache?

Nadine had taken the crew to see the clinic one last time where they got to meet some baboons and a few apes. One of the investors in organisation had been present there actually and Elena couldn’t leave the poor man alone. Mr. Adler had been inquiring about the health of the monkeys to one of the vets, while the blonde woman had been hurling questions of her own to him by the second. Nadine had not been paying much attention and wandered around the establishment. She’d greeted a few of the primates who knew her well and even fed some of them before a dull metallic clatter rang through the small compound. Dr. Martin asked her to go into the back and give Zina, another dwarf chimpanzee, some water because although she was healthy and to be released into the reserve soon, she was young, rather clumsy and would often knock it over. Mr. Adler had offered to go instead but the vet informed him that only staff was allowed back there. He seemed annoyed, as if disrespected by this claim at first but soon sighed and admitted defeat.

The conservationist opened the heavy metal door which caused Knot, who was sitting on a stool, to shoot up from his uncomfortable spot. He greeted her rather loudly almost startling her, and definitely startling some of the apes who rustled at the noise.

“Nice to see you too, bru… What are you doing back here?”

He blinked at her, “Security ma’am. With what happened and-”

“Ja, I was there, I know what happened. Isn’t there enough security outside the compound, why are you post in here too.”

“Beats me. Boss’ orders.”

“I see…”

Meyer had not run this by her. Obviously he had every right to do what he wished but Knot was part of her area, she was his superior, she ought to know where he’s stationed at all times when ordered by him. She made a mental note to chew him out later. Respectfully. She pushed past the taller man and stalked down the hallway. When she made it to the enclosure and stopped in her tracks. Orca was stooped near a puddle under the entry gate, his hand through the bars, pouring water from the designated container into the silver dish.

“Orca. You’re here too…?”

He stood as soon as he was finished he stood, “Yes, ma’am. Knot needed a partner, ma’am.”

Now that she thought about it, it would be rather silly to have one man guard an area alone, even if it wasn’t the largest. “Fair enough.”

She approached the cage and placed a hand on the bars. The thick metal had some scratches in it’s deep moss green paint coat from tools scarping against it or apes picking at it out of boredom. It wasn’t unusual for a simian paddock. The food was everywhere, there were a few spots of feces, which Nadine instructed Orca to deal with while he was here, and Zina stayed crouched in a corner, gazing back at her with brown eyes. She nodded at the man and turned to leave. She waved at Knot and shut the door behind her, one thought bouncing around in her mind. Zina had been smiling.

* * *

The dim beam of white light crept over the crept over the darkened field of grass. After a quick scope out she turned it off and ducked into some greenery near the building she had been in hours earlier. Now it had been blanketed in night and the one industrial light above the front door was burning brightly, attracting the attention of a handful of buzzing insects that had been circling and knocking into its bulb. The night air was kept alive by the sounds of rustling branches and the grunt of a few apes who couldn’t get to sleep. A man she did not recognize in the slightest stood with an assault rifle guarding the entrance and shining a torch around wildly at every noise. The model of the gun she couldn’t tell in this lighting at this distance, but she was sure it was no rubber bullet or pellet gun. The last time she was here she had been with the journalists. After they left that afternoon she hadn’t bothered to say good-bye at the airport and opted for figuring some things out. Those things had been poking and prodding at her and she simply couldn’t take it anymore, she had to investigate.

Her hair was pulled into its usual ponytail, under a black cap as apposed to her usual beige one and she worse matching cargo pants and boots. She wore a slightly oversized bomber jacket, a thigh holster and dark nylon finger-less gloves to complete her look. She peeked out from under some leaves and her eyes narrowed. She had to get inside. She snuck through the grasses and got a little bit closer. Parked at the side of the clinic was a whit delivery truck with no number plate that she had never seen before in her life. Her hands dusted the ground until she found a pebble she deemed suitable. With careful aim, she pitched it at side panel. The man perked up and drew his weapon before going to investigate. Nadine seized the moment and sprinted to the door, being careful to stay low and silent. She placed her hand on the knob and was about to get her key when she realised it was unlocked. Quickly she opened it, snuck in and closed it gently behind her.

She patrolled the hallway, looking at the chimps in their compounds, some asleep and some snacking. A crackling sound made its way to her ear, one that mimicked that of someone stepping onto gravel or something similar in size. She drew her gun. She stood in the weaver position for a little bit, listening, and when she heard nothing she stepped cautiously with her weapon lowered slightly. Nadine managed to make it to the end of the hall, her goal, Zina’s paddock. Just as she thought the gate was open and instead of a bonobo she found the outline of a person, crouched and inspecting the floor.

“Hey!”

“Shit- Oh my-” they nearly fell over and turned to face her, “god, you scared the crap outta me.”

* * *

Chloe had been mostly packed for her midnight flight back home and was fiddling with her camera and laptop on the bed. She had been in the middle of relocating files and sending emails. Elena had been laying on her bed, deep in conversation with Nathan, her husband. The lights were on the TV created background noise. After typing a rather important email, she encrypted it and sent it. She had now moved on to scrolling through her album and looking at all the photos, deleting the ones that were out of focus and bookmarking the ones she liked in particular. She found herself saving a lot that had Nadine in them. She kept up with this and was about to delete a fairly blurry picture but something caught her attention right before she tapped ‘move to recycle bin’. Her eyes locked onto the subject then slowly widened and she flew to her feet and immediately got dressed bolting at the door, ignoring Elena’s confused questions and exclamations.

* * *

Chloe Frazer wore a black tactical jacket, jeans, the same boots she’d been wearing when she had met her, and her usual ponytail was neater and less sweaty. She had been wearing double back holsters, loaded with two semiautomatic glocks and most importantly she was here; right in front of her. Nadine had almost shot her, but she was here. It had been approaching one in the morning, her phone was on silent but had been been lagging from the sheer amount of worried texts and missed calls from her roommate, that had abruptly stopped at around quarter past twelve.

Nadine had put away her firearm by this point, “What’d you see that made you come back?”

“I always transfer my files onto my computer and a flash drive before I clear any from my SD card whatsoever. When I was looking through the copies on my laptop, the one I cam across was pretty bad quality and I had already deleted it from my camera so I had never looked at it really.”

“Okay… So?”

“So, you remember the ape that had been acting up last week, right? The one Carol was trying to let out.”

“Ja, and he rushed you and Orca.”

“Right. Well you all couldn’t quite pin point what triggered him to come at me. You told me you had settled on maybe a light reflection off the lens freaked him out.”

“That’s correct. He was already on edge and your flash wasn’t on so it couldn’t have been that, a glare would make sense.”

“It would except when it happened I must have been so startled I accidentally pressed the capture button and took a picture. And after looking at the picture… Well…”

“What?”

“He wasn’t coming at me… H was trying to attack Orca… and I mean he did only start acting up when he and Knot tried to help Carol, that’s what she said and…”

Realisation dawned. “Oh no…”

“What? What is it?”

She shook her head as if that would help clear it, “That bonobo, Rashidi, he was part of the same troop as Zuberi… the bonobo that went missing from the enclosure.”

“How much you wanna bet the poor bloke saw something? Something to make him afraid of Orca…”

“Quite a lot.”

“I came back to check everything out and saw the truck and some guys outside. They were talking about a warehouse and sales or something and got into a car and left. I snuck in while they were distracted. What made you come back?”

“Earlier today, when I came back here, Knot was standing guard and acting weird. When I came to this cage, to make sure Zina had her water I saw the mullet man himself already filling it but something tipped me off.”

“Oh?”

“Ja, like a bad feeling? Not to mention she looked scared, the gate hadn’t been locked all the way and the puddle of water, it made no sense. It looked like it had been poured rather than knocked over by a graceless ape, almost like-”

“It had been staged…”

“Exactly.”

A metallic clatter drew their attention to a small canister rolling down the hallway. They cussed in unison and dove and hit the floor as soon as the sonorous bang rattled through the room, disturbing once snoozing primates. Lucky for them it had not been a flash grenade, but the explosion of smoke was still extremely disorienting. She couldn’t see shit. When the ringing in her ears dulled she heard Chloe call out to her, and then the tell tale sounds of a struggle. Attempts to clamber to her feet were thwarted by a steel toed boot connecting with her stomach. She recoiled with a grunt and the last thing she remembered was the sensation: the but of a rifle smashed into her right temple.

* * *

** _ ** _  
_ ** _ **

With a jolt, she woke up in confusion. For a split second bewilderment had been her only problem until the pain suddenly shot through her skull, causing her to groan and clasp her hand to her forehead. Suddenly she remembered what had happened and she shot upright. The room was vast, industrial copper lights sporting incandescent bulbs dotted along the high ceiling, the retrofitted walls made of some sort of metal sheeting, a steel door on her far left and a multitude of crates and cages clearly designed for the transportation of exotic animals, varying in sizes. She had even been sitting in one. A quite large one, most likely meant hold a creature of the Ursidae or even Panthera Genus. The room had a few rotating security cameras, only one ever aiming at her in its cycle, she had noticed. She’d been stripped of her gun, cap and her jacket leaving her misted in sweat wearing her white tank top tucked into her trousers. She patted herself down. Of course they emptied her pockets. Looking to her right and saw Frazer’s chest rising and falling with every breath and crawled over to her, not without placing a hand on her aching torso.

Gently, she shook the woman, whispering her name a few times. This process had no affect on her until ten minutes into doing so where she had murmured something. Nadine kept at it until she hummed in response to her name. Her eyelashes fluttered open so she helped her to sit up. Like her, the other woman had also been stripped of her jacket. She sat in a mesh athletic shirt that’s pattern reminded her of tv static. It had not been very form fitting but the translucency of the material had almost been enough to distract Nadine. Almost.

They took a few minutes to look each other over for injuries and concurred that Nadine had slightly bruised ribs, Chloe had a busted lip and fractured nose and they both sustained only minor Traumatic Brain Injury. Frazer took the time to observe the room as well. She then inched toward to locked cage door and peered around. The enclosure was just above a metre and a half which meant that they were hunched over if they stood. Nadine had asked how they were going to get out and the raven haired woman had requested she “sit still, look pretty” or helped her with a plan.

Nadine ripped a button off of one of the pockets of her cargo pants and removed her hair elastic. The minute it turned away, she used the accessories as a make shift slingshot between her fingers and shot at the bade of the camera, jolting it further in the direction it was facing. When it had made its rounds again, it didn’t reach as far and their cage wasn't in its range anymore. Chloe had then shoved her hands into her hair and appeared to be feeling around her scalp. A victorious laugh emitted from her and she pulled forth a handful of small tools.

Nadine’s jaw dropped. “So you’re telling me…” Nadine whispered, “you keep an entire lock-picking set __in__ your hair?”

“Mhm.”

Chloe had stuck her arms up out of the pound and forced the tools into the catch of the door. She fiddled around and soft clicking was incorporated into her movements. Soon enough, her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

“How do you even fit that in there, my hair doesn’t even hold moisture.”

Chloe chuckled. “Dunno, just thought it would be helpful so I... shit... so I gave it a shot and it stayed. Never really leave home without it.”

“That definitely wasn’t in your hair when you were in my bed.”

“Gold star for you. I didn’t think I would need it for just checking up on you.”

“What if I didn’t open the door and you had to let yourself in?”

“I would have found a way. I have picked a lock with nothing but my belt before, yanno.”

Nadine made a face pushing out her bottom lip, genuinely impressed. “Speaking of when you were in my bed-”

“-Dammit. Here we go-”

“What happened?”

“What do you mean?”

“You just got up, sat on the edge of my bed, looking pretty stressed out, wrote me a note and left.”

Chloe stopped and turned to her, “How’d you know I was-”

“I’m a light sleeper, Frazer. I woke up when you shifted me.”

“And you just… let me go?”

“What else was I supposed to do? Beg you to stay?”

“You could have told me.”

“How could I do that? If you wanted to leave then you had every right to. I just…”

“You know,” Chloe dropped her arms, kind of annoyed, and paid full attention to the woman in front of her, “you’ve been really dogging me, man. You don’t explicitly tell me what’s wrong but you’re mad. I said I’m sorry what more do you want?”

“Its not about wanting a stupid apology.”

“Then what is it about?”

“Its about not wanting an apology, goddammit. I’m not good at this people thing, its why I like working with animals so much. I get that you’re upset but did you ever think about how it feels to have had sex with someone, for them to regret it, apologize and then turn around and act like nothing happened?”

Her expression softened and she took the woman's hand in her own. “I never regretted a single moment with you, love…”

“Then why are you sorry?”

“I’m sorry that it happened the way it did. When I made love to you I wanted it to be because we got to know each other and it was something you wanted to do; with me. Not grief sex to temporarily numb your pain. I-I have no issue with cheering you up that way, don’t get me wrong, but I just wanted to the first time to be memorable for less grim reasons.”

Nadine smiled at her softly and held Chloe’s hand in both of her own, “I wished it was a happier circumstance too, I do, I… I’m sorry, lief. I’d never thought about it like that... I...”

She smiled back, “Its alright, I was kind of being a hypocrite…”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” she retrieved her hand and continued to attack the lock, “I suck at the whole people thing too.”

A few more attempts and a pop indicated that she’d succeeded. She smiled at the woman from over her shoulder and returned the tools to her hair. Just then the door swung open and Chloe tightened her grip on the bars so it wouldn’t be clear that the door was open. A fully armed Knot stalked toward them and stopped directly in front of Chloe. He leaned down a little, to be on the same level as the not only shorter but stooping women, and gave them a once over.

“Ms. Frazer. Ma’am.”

“Knot,” Nadine spat, “what the bloody hell are you doing?”

“You said it yourself, Ross. Conservation work doesn’t pay well. But you know what does?”

“Kidnapping, trafficking and murdering innocent animals?”

He gritted his teeth, “You never had the balls to do what had to be done. Always treating those bloody things like they were your own fucking children or something.”

“Who do you work for?” Chloe finally spoke up, rather harshly at that.

He turned to her, smiling, “Wouldn’t you like to know, beautiful.”

Both women scowled at this remark.

“Orca brought it up with our supervisor that it would pay well to sell you two animals as well as the others, rather than kill ya. You should be thankful.”

Nadine scoffed, “Gonna try to turn us in to your pretty little whores? Afraid we can’t let that happen.”

“Not willingly, no, but I wonder how many grams of narcotics it’d take you to fry your brain and change your attitude. No need to fret, we have a quite the load coming in. You're getting blazed for free.”

He had begun to lean back when Chloe let go of the bars in front of her, and opted for gripping the ones above her head and kicked the drawbridge style door down. It came down on his head with immense force. Both women held the bars and beat it down on him until he slumped, unmoving. Chloe exited first and began searching the unconscious criminal, Nadine following behind her. She collected a large key ring, the assault rifle Chloe then strapped to her back and a glock she gave to Nadine. For good measure Nadine took his combat knife as well, not without cutting off two scraps of his clothing. The women dragged him into the cage, gagged him with one piece of fabric and tied him to the bars with the other, locking the door again just in case.

“Listen, Nandi…”

The shorter woman had been heading for the exit and turned around instead.

“Everything we talked about, I…”

Nadine smiled and waved a hand dismissively, “I get it, alright. Let’s not let all that moody bullshit stand in the way anymore, hey?” 

Chloe mirrored the expression, “Alright… Deal…”

Nadine decided to blame her attitude on her head trauma for now and move on. They approached the door before hearing a concerned voice call out to Knot. Quickly, the pair flanked the exit, one on either side the door, they looked at each other. A man clad in a black tactical suit walked between them. Nadine had assumed she would take care of it but as soon as she attempted to, Chloe has surprised her. She grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him with all her might in an arc around her, making him collide face first with the wall. He collapsed. The ex-soldier stood mouth slightly agape as the “photographer” crouched down and searched him, taking his ammunition, giving the handgun rounds to her slack jawed partner. She had only smirked at her when she noticed the gawking. Boy oh boy was this woman full of surprises.

* * *

A bullet whizzed overhead so close she could fee the lingering warmth on her scalp. They’d made it through two more rooms, taking extra caution not to hurt the animals, before they’d almost been gunned down at the door. Any men left on the compound had congregated in that area, right outside of a smaller room, an office Nadine had suggested. Bodies littered the floor, the metallic scent of blood mixed with salty sweat and gunpowder invaded her sensory organs with many other sensations. The sting of her busted eyebrow, grazed cheeks and bruised knuckles; the burning feeling of breathing; the ache in her torso and legs, all added to the high. If it wasn’t for adrenaline she’d probably have fainted experiencing all of this alongside her minor concussion.

Chloe had looked like hell as well. She was bruised, swollen, bleeding. She’d also been rather fierce. Nadine ran out from her cover to another crate and released four shots, dropping three of the men. There had been only eight left now. Three behind a makeshift barricade stopping anyone from entering the other room, two to her left, one to her two o clock and two to her five. One of the hired armours on her left felt brave and ran forward ringing out shots. Chloe sprung from behind her cover and sprayed him with bullets, sending him reeling back for a few centimetres before hitting the ground. Nadine shot at the men on her right, hitting one in the eye and the other in his non-dominant arm and the raven haired woman took the opening to change spots, plugging a dozen holes into one of the men who’d been peeking out from behind the barricade. Chloe grabbed another magazine from one of the bodies and reloaded; she was closer to the door than Nadine had been. The curly haired reaper claimed the man who’s arm she’d tagged earlier and vaulted over the crate she was behind, moving up.

She observed further. Two still guarding the door and one man attempting to sneak up on Chloe, who’d clearly seen him and… Her eyes darted around wildly. Before she could find him he’d scooped Chloe up, taking her from under her arms. She sprang into action and bolted towards her. His partner would prove to be a problem and took a swing at her when she got close. She dodged, pivoting and ending up in a handstand. She held him with a scissor hold and contorted, flipping him over and snapping his neck in one solid movement. Such an elaborate take down was enough of a distraction for Chloe to elbow her assailant, smacking him in he face with the back of her hand and allowed him to lunge at her. She rolled out of the way and his uncoordinated attack left him diving into a hailstorm of fire meant for her. Ducked behind wooden boxes the two high-fived the team work.

The two men had their assault rifles mounted atop their barricade, spinning it wildly searching for their targets. In perfect unison they both froze at the cold metal pressed gently against their temples.

* * *

An insanely loud bang erupted from the other side of the door. Orca had been frantically trying to get connected to someone, anyone and was failing miserably. He was interrupted by a bullet connecting with his radio, the system erupting into sparks.

“Having technical difficulties there, dude?”

Chloe’s gun had been slung over her shoulder and she glared at him, while Nadine stood in the weaver stance, looking absolutely incensed. He was so calm that it almost gave the impression that he knew he was going to die and didn’t worry about it too much. 

“Ma’am,” he leaned against the desk, casually.

“Why, Orca?”

“Because it makes the fucking dinero! Animal work that’s actually profitable.”

“Its not about money, you dick, its about doing what’s right.”

“And when have you ever done to right thing, ma’am? I mean other than your furry shit flinging pets. When have you ever considered what was best for a person? Or even treating them fairly.”

She cocked her gun.

He scoffed. “Yeah, I thought that much.”

“Enough!” Chloe shouted and aimed her weapon, “Who do you work for?”

"How do you know I work for anyone?"

"Please, you're too stupid to pull this all off on your own."

“Ouch... Assuming I did have a superviser, why would I tell you? I don’t answer to you, lady.”

Chloe had almost emptied a round into him right then and there.

“A shame you two have to get wasted.”

“That’s one way to talk about your own testicles.”

The radio suddenly spluttered and cracked, creating a small explosion. Orca took this distraction as an opportunity to kick Nadine’s weapon and barrel into Chloe, tackling her to the wall. The ex soldier jumped onto his back and began attacking his shoulder with blows from her elbow. He turned around and slammed her against the wall. Once. Twice. Three times. She fell off. Chloe punched him behind the head and aimed her knee at his gut. She boxed him in the chest and kicked him in the knees, Nadine, soon recovering, hit him a roundhouse square in the jaw, sending him reeling back. He let out an enraged roar and jumped on Chloe, holding both her wrists and slamming her into a wall before head butting her and this time he made for Nadine. He punched, which she dodged, and he expected. He planted a swift kick to her ankles a punch to her chest, causing her to lose her equilibrium. Nadine’s discarded firearm had been lying next to Orca’s foot at this point. He took aim and Chloe and Nadine did something reckless. She just pounced on him in an attempt to disarm him. No plan, no technique, just entirely panic. It went off.

Chloe clambered to her feet and rushed over to the two laying next to each other, blood everywhere. She dropped to her knees and held the Nadine’s face in both hands. For a moment she thought she had been bleeding but the fluid splattered across her face had not been her own. Gurgled coughs erupted from the man and Chloe faced him. The way she glared at him; if looks could kill she would have ended his suffering. “You’ll… hear from Asav for this…” was the last thing he had sputtered before his eyes went completely blank. Chloe let out an angered huff and returned her attention to the woman, caressing her cheek, still on edge.

“China? China...? Nadine… Baby, wake up…”

Her lashes parted slowly. “Fun fact…” she’d said weakly, “I kinda have a thing for tall women…”

She was silent for a spell, then when everything registered snd Chloe.exe had started runnning smoothly again, she laughed. And Nadine laughed along with her. She pulled the woman into an embrace and they held each other like they’d be ripped away from the other person forever if they’d let go.

* * *

“I looked at some papers and Adler’s definitely involved in this. Look into an ‘Asav’ as well. Whether that’s a first name or surname, I don't know, but dig up anything you can find that looks sketchy.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh god, don’t call me that. That makes me sound old.”

The officer smiled at her and she returned the gesture. When her briefing had been completed she turned on her heel and searched the sea of people for-there she is. That mess of dark curls. The sun had just been peeking over the horizon like a child to short to see onto the countertop by this time. The natural orange hues were competing with the blue and red LEDs of emergency vehicles. After Orca was dead she and Nadine had searched the warehouse for their things, calling the authorities when they found their phones. The parking lot of the building had been overrun with ambulances, police cars, paramedics and officers at this time, sirens and chatter making up most of the noise. She’d even called Elena and Cutter down. As it turns out when she hadn’t hoped her flight when she stopped trying to contact Chloe but had been canceling it, conversing with Cutter ad trying to figure out where she had gone.

The good news about all this was that the apes that went missing within the last three weeks were all there, unharmed aside from possible mental trauma, and all the cash found on the property would be donated to conversation work. There had also been other animals there, but they were believed to have been taken from their habitats and they were most likely going be taken back home. Chloe smiled to herself thinking about this.

She made her way through the crowd and to the woman sitting in the back of an ambulance. Nadine had smiled when she saw her. They both had multiple bandages and separate gauze for their wounds, messy hair and dark circles under their eyes.

Chloe sat next to Nadine and had been asking her how she’d been holding up when an officer had approached to asked if Chloe could take care of it, whatever “it” had been, and referred to her as “Officer Frazer,” earning a baffled side eye from Nadine.

“Officer Frazer? Wait, you’re a cop?”

She sighed, “Yup… Federal agent to be precise.”

“Eish…”

“Australian Intelligence thought I’d be put to better use working to enforce the law rather than breaking it.”

“If you still work for the Australian government, what are you doing here?”

“I’d been assigned to work with a team, poaching case, when viper populations declined and started showing up as pets or accessories more frequently. I’d just been following the trail and it lead me here, to your organisation.”

“Well.. why didn’t you tell me?”

“I couldn’t. I was undercover.”

“I see…” Nadine joked, “Explains why all your photos are garbage.”

Chloe laughed and lightly smacked her on the arm, “I’ll have you know when I’m not busting organized crime, I can be found with a camera.”

“Is that so?”

“Mhm… I not a fan of shooting animate subjects with a lens, much prefer a firearm for that. I like taking pictures of landscapes and architecture, though.”

She smiled, “So… it was all a cover story?” Nadine had been visually fixed on the blonde talking to the police.

“Not all of it, especially not Elena, she’s not a part of this… she’s just a journalist.”

“Really? She seemed so like you…”

“Well she definitely had nothing to do with this but I do know her outside of this job. I actually dated her husband a few years back-but there’s no bad blood, though.”

Nadine scoffed with a grin, “Huh.” A moment of silence. “Well, what about everything else? Did you mean it?”

“I meant this…” she’d held under Nadine’s chin.

She smiled and pecked the other woman on the lips, sweetly. “I’m glad for that.”

“And I’m glad my career led me to you. A shame now that this is over…”

“You’re going home.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry, love.”

Nadine sighed, “Well. Its been fun.”

“Oh please, China, you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Can’t I?”

Chloe pretended to be deep in thought, eye brows furrowing and lips pursing, “I’m afraid you can’t. Not without bug spray at least.”

Nadine’s head leaned to the side slightly, almost drooping from the weight of her smile.

“A ton of water between borders isn’t going to change what I feel for you. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I definitely want to see where this goes… But it takes two hands to clap so if you’re not up for that, that’s totally fine, man, you don’t have to-”

“Chloe?”

“Yeah…?”

“Shut up.”

“Okay…”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked it! Please comment, share or give me a kudos so I'll know if to even bother posting the rest. Deuces! :p


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